Network slicing is considered to be the enabler for a coexistence of a multitude of services with heterogeneous requirements on a multi-tenant 5G infrastructure. In the core network, it has shown its potential in customizing and extending service-specific functionality beyond a mere configuration. In the radio access network (RAN) however, service customization and functionality extension remain a challenge due to the rigid and complex nature of the RAN and the fact that all services have to be mapped onto the scarce radio resources. In this article, we present the RAN service engine that allows services to customize and extend RAN functionality using containerized micro-services. This is achieved through micro-SDKs that abstract key RAN control endpoints, and which can then be used by the services to flexibly customize and extend the RAN in order to steer control plane behavior. Through these micro-SDKs, the engine can enforce isolation between services while multiplexing them efficiently onto the infrastructure. We also present a concrete implementation of the engine with its key micro-SDKs, and demonstrate the feasibility through a prototype for the MAC scheduling control endpoint, showing the versatility of the RAN engine.

中文翻译：

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RAN引擎：通过容器化微服务的面向服务的RAN

网络切片被认为是在多租户5G基础架构上多种服务和异构需求共存的促成因素。在核心网络中，它已经显示出了在定制和扩展特定于服务的功能方面的潜力，而不仅仅是单纯的配置。然而，在无线接入网（RAN）中，由于RAN的刚性和复杂性以及必须将所有服务映射到稀缺的无线资源这一事实，服务定制和功能扩展仍然是一个挑战。在本文中，我们介绍了RAN服务引擎，该服务允许服务使用容器化微服务自定义和扩展RAN功能。这是通过提取关键RAN控制端点的micro-SDK来实现的，然后可以由服务使用它来灵活地自定义和扩展RAN，以控制控制平面的行为。通过这些微型SDK，引擎可以在服务之间实施隔离，同时将它们有效地多路复用到基础架构上。我们还介绍了带有关键micro-SDK的引擎的具体实现，并通过MAC调度控制端点的原型演示了可行性，显示了RAN引擎的多功能性。